Vox ad50vt--or--ad100vt ?? First amp

Get neither: get the AD60VT instead. You have two Vox Valvetronix Series:

AD15/30/50/100 VT = basic version.
AD60/120 VT/VTX = extended version, more models, more effects.

The AD60VT is sixty watts which is *very* loud in this case. One 12" speaker should be sufficient, if you want real stereo you'll need spreaded cabs anyway, which you can add later through the speaker-out. And if you do want 2x12" right away you can get the AD120VT. The VTX series are the same as VT but with higher quality speakers. It's a personal choice but if you're just starting I doubt you'll be able to tell them apart and the price difference is pretty big.

http://www.voxamps.co.uk/products/valvetronix/ad60vt.htm

The AD60VT should be priced between the AD50 and AD100 and is better then either of em. The AD60VTX is considerably more expensive, around $750+.

If you expect to mostly play in your house for the next couple of years, even the AD30VT should be more than sufficient. It is plently loud, and I am sure with a 12" speaker, the AD50vt will be louder yet. The 2x12 is going to be lot heavier to carry around. Now, if you think you are going to be gigging soon, then maybe you want the bigger amp with multiple speakers etc..

True, although I think that if you need 100W and two 12" speakers to be heared you might want to consider using a PA system. Or prepare to be sued by the people in the front of the audience for hearing damage. :D The biggest issue of an amp should be sound, not volume. Low volume can be boosted in many ways, bad sound can't be fixed.

If you can't afford or find the AD60VT you really might want to consider the AD30.

I would be interested in hearing from some owners of the AD30VT as to the "tone" of their amp. I am not exactly clear about whether it sounds like a tube amp or whether it is more of a solid state modelling amp.

From what I have learned so far, it appears to be "somewhere in the middle." It is a modelling amp, but with a tube. So, does it have true tube tone or not? This series of amps seems very popular and I may be interested in one, but I am really looking for an amp that can capture that classic rock tone. Any thoughts?

My local music shop can't keep up with the demand for these Vox amps. They sell on average about 2or3 a week. They are so popular because of the built in attenuator that lets you drive the amp to full volume so you can get the tone you want, then kick in the attenuator and back off the volume so you keep all that driven tone at bedroom levels. I'm sure that only the VTX model has the tube preamp although I may be wrong.
I heard an AD30vt played at full volume and believe me its no little squeaker. OK its not as loud as say a Fender Blues Junior at 30 watts but its ample for any home use and I would say a small gig such as a school or good size function room.
As for the effects, they are far superior to the Line 6 spider ii, which I guess is its nearest comparable rival.

No, the VTX line has a different speaker (IIRC only for the AD60/120 line), and no Vox Valvetronix has a tube preamp. They basically work like this:

digital modeling pre-amp->1W Tube poweramp using a pre-amp->XX-watt transparant solidstate poweramp.

Each section has it's own volume control: Volume, Master and Power. So you can chose how much you want to over drive the tube circuitry and then set the volume using the transistor poweramp.

It's direct competitors are the Roland Cube 30 (great ultra-clean clean, nice metal rhythm) and the Line6 Spider (just crap IMHO, sorry). The Vox has by far the best classic rock/overdriven sounds. Is it a tube amp? Hard to say. It is a very dynamic amp in that it results extremely well to picking dynamics, both in volume and sound. You can set it that just your picking technique decides between clean and overdrive, like a tube amp would. I'm pretty sure it holds up well to the cheaper tube amps no problem. But I've put it next to an Engl Souvereign and Thunderball (both $1500+ tube amps) and the Vox was obviously less.

I've got the AD30VT and if I had to chose again I would still chose it. It's a great amp with great tone. The effects are, IMHO, nothing spectacular and won't beat your standalone units but they are usefull and don't suck your tone dry like the with the Spider. Don't expect this (or any $300) to be the final amp for all but this does get you an amp with serious tonal qualities. As for volume, I did an outdoor gig with it with the powerlevel around 15W IIRC and the master around 60%. It depends on the rest of your band but volume is no problem at all, and keeping it nice and low is easy with the powerlevel.

Note that the powerlevel is *not* an attenuator in that it doesn't convert energy to heat. You can compare it with miccing an amp and deciding on the mixer channel how loud the mic-channel should be. The advantage of that is that you don't have the (theoretical) lowering of dynamic capabilties, which is an inherent part of attenuators. (which is the reason why pro studios use isolation boxes and crank those 100W marshalls instead of using attenuators, for those who care to know)

Thanks for putting me straight Arjen. Its good to get the proper info.